The Cat with Ten Lives

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"The Cat with Ten Lives" is the third episode aired of the first series of UFO - a 1970 British television science fiction series about an alien invasion of Earth. David Tomblin wrote the screenplay and directed the episode. The episode was filmed between 22 May and 3 June 3, 1970 and aired on the ATV Midlands network on 30 September 1970. Though shown as the third episode, it was actually the nineteenth to have been filmed.^[1]

The series was created by Gerry Anderson and Sylvia Anderson with Reg Hill, and produced by the Andersons and Lew Grade's Century 21 Productions for Grade's ITC Entertainment company.^[2]

Story[]

Moonbase interceptor pilot James Regan is on 48 hours leave from the Moon. He and his wife are invited by an older couple, the Thompsons, who have mysteriously been given an unusual psychic board game. Whilst the two couples are playing the game, Regan starts to have strange reactions and faints. Later, as Regan and his wife are driving down a country road they stop their car to avoid a Siamese cat. They are then abducted by aliens who take them to their UFO, where he has another experience similar to the one he had at the Thompson home. Regan awakes back in his car with the cat but his wife missing, abducted by the aliens. Regan explains his story at SHADO Control but Straker sends him back to the moon. Meanwhile the cat now has free rein inside Control.

SHADO's resident doctor - Douglas Jackson - has performed an autopsy on an alien body and found it to be entirely human, not - as previously believed - an alien species that harvests human organs to extend its lifespan. He surmises that the aliens may be able to control human brains.

When piloting his SHADO Interceptor escorting the Venus probe, Regan fails to destroy a UFO that leaves Earth carrying his wife. He is recalled to Earth for an assessment. Still controlled by the cat, Regan attacks Col. Paul Foster and returns to the moon, where he puts his interceptor on a crash course with Moonbase. Straker determines that the cat is controlling Regan and has it eliminated. No longer under alien control, Regan sacrifices himself by just missing Moonbase but is unable to avoid impacting on the lunar surface.^[3]

Cast[]

Starring[]

• Ed Bishop — Commander Edward "Ed" Straker, Commander-in-chief of SHADO
• Michael Billington — Col. Paul Foster
• Dolores Mantez — Lt. Nina Barry, Moonbase operative
• Ayshea — Lt. Ayshea Johnson
• Vladek Sheybal — Dr. Douglas Jackson

Guest stars[]

• Alexis Kanner — Lt. Jim Regan
• Lois Maxwell — Miss Holland
• Steven Berkoff — Captain Steve Minto

Featuring[]

• Geraldine Moffatt — Jean Regan
• Wanda Ventham - Col. Virginia Lake
• Colin Gordon — Albert Thompson
• Eleanor Summerfield — Muriel Thompson
• Windsor Davies — Morgan
• Al Mancini — Lt. Andy Conroy

Production notes[]

Pinewood Studios, Buckinghamshire and Neptune House, BBC Elstree Studios, Borehamwood.

References[]

External links[]

• Screenplay for the episode